Buescher weaves way to victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Only six of 43 cars made it unscathed to the finish line of the Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway.

SATURDAY

James Buescher wins Drive4COPD 300.

James Buescher was not driving one of those clean cars.

Still, he managed to dodge and weave his way through an 11-car accident on the last lap of yesterday's race, stealing the victory and setting the stage for what's expected to be a wild Daytona 500.

Buescher joined unknown John King, winner of Friday night's Truck Series opener, as surprise winners this weekend at Daytona. Both came from nowhere to win crash-marred races. Elliott Sadler, who finished third yesterday, said today's race will be much of the same.

"It's the Daytona 500. It's a once-in-a-lifetime race to be involved in and try to win, and I think guys are going to go for it when it's showtime," Sadler said. "I think guys will be patient the first part of the race, test their cars, just like you saw today. When it gets time to go, crazy things happen."

Buescher was in 11th place as he rounded the final turn and made his way through a massive pack of spinning race cars.

"They all piled up in front of me, and we made it through," Buescher said. "It's hard to describe the feeling when you make it through the wreck and you're the only guy. You don't see anybody in front of you coming to the checkered flag. It's pretty incredible."

It was a mess behind him.

The accident, the third multicar wreck in the waning laps, appeared to start as the tandem of Tony Stewart and Sadler charged to the top of the track to make a three-wide pack among the leaders. Kurt Busch was leading on the bottom of the track with younger brother Kyle pushing, and Kurt Busch seemed to start sliding up the surface in an attempt to block the huge run on the outside.

Joey Logano was being pushed through the middle by defending Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, and all four cars drifted higher into Stewart, winner of the last four Nationwide openers here, who was pinched into the wall. That triggered a chain-reaction crash that had many worried about the safety of the drivers involved.

It was Buescher, who went low — so low he crossed the yellow out-of-bounds line, but NASCAR said it's allowed when avoiding an accident — to skirt the cars and take the checkered flag. Buescher's win was his first in NASCAR and came a day after King's victory in his eighth career start.

Buescher, who drives for Turner Motorsports, was listed in two of the eight caution periods and said he was just trying to get a top-10 finish at the end.

"Got down to the end, after we beat all the fenders off of it, beat 'em back out, didn't have anybody that wanted to draft with us," he said. "I was just trying to do everything I could to stay in the top 10."

Danica Patrick, meanwhile, started from the pole but was wrecked 49 laps into the race when JR Motorsports teammate Cole Whitt ran into the back of her while bump-drafting. Her car spun into the wall and back down the track. Although she returned the damaged Chevrolet to the track late, she finished 38th in the first race of what will be her first full season in the Nationwide Series.